FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT EUROPEAN INTEGRATION - PAGE 2

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Economy Minister Philipp Roesler has warned against using populism in the debate over the euro zone crisis and stressed the commitment of his party, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), to closer European integration. "Euro populism is not a road that the Free Democrats and I go down," he told Spiegel's online edition on Tuesday. "You can only keep Europe and its strong currency intact if you have a clear framework of rules," Roesler, also Germany's vice chancellor, was quoted as saying.

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande will set out his vision of the European Union's future in a keynote address to the European Parliament next week, his office said on Monday. The "solemn" speech, followed by a debate with the leaders of the political groups in the Strasbourg-based EU legislature, gives the Socialist leader a chance to respond to British Prime Minister David Cameron's call for a reformed EU that returns more power to member states. Since his election last May, Hollande has pressed for the EU to do more to stimulate growth and ease the pace of austerity to revive Europe's stagnant economies.

European Union leaders vowed Saturday to revamp their organization within nine months, but disagreed on how much power it should have over member states and how fast to expand eastward. At a special one-day summit, the 15 heads of state pledged to change the European Union treaty to accommodate a dozen newcomers, most of them eastern European countries. "Without any preconditions, we all agreed that the treaty should be finalized" as scheduled at the end of June, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said.

On the 500th anniversary of Columbus` discovery of America, we will be looking back at the past. Europeans will be looking toward the future. For much of this century, Europe has been conditioned by forces of change originating in America. By 1992, however, the United States will need to adapt to a world shaped by European initiatives. For the 12 countries of the European Economic Community, 1992 will mark the full integration of the Common Market. In anticipation, Europeans are beginning to make new plans for themselves and their businesses.

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti called on Saturday for a meeting of European Union heads of government to discuss the growing signs of disunity and populism in the region, fuelled by the euro zone's debt crisis. "There are many manifestations of populism that are aimed at disunity in nearly all the member states," Monti said in a joint news conference with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy at an economic conference in northern Italy. Monti, who has repeatedly warned of the re-emergence of national prejudices and stereotypes, said he had proposed that the meeting be held in the seat of Rome's city government, where one of the EU's founding treaties was signed in 1957.

PARIS (Reuters) - France is putting on hold plans to give its non-EU residents the right to vote in local elections, the country's interior minister has said, reneging on an electoral promise made by Francois Hollande during his 2012 presidential campaign. After victory for France's far right FN party in Sunday's European Parliament polls, the reform, which would have benefited large communities of Moroccans and Algerians in France, lacked support in parliament and Senate, he said.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair took over the European Union's six-month rotating presidency Friday and said he saw little chance of rescuing the EU constitution after its rejection last month by French and Dutch voters. Blair said he intended to fight for a new vision of the EU, one that equips Europeans to compete in a global economy and modernizes expensive French-style social and worker protections. Blair said that he will host an EU summit to assess the direction and speed of European integration.

(Updates with German doctor remarks) By Olzhas Auyezov KIEV, May 4 (Reuters) - Ukraine rejected a demand on Friday from jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko for a criminal probe into what she calls severe beatings at the hands of prison guards - claims which alarmed Western leaders who view her as a political prisoner. Tymoshenko - who is on hunger strike and has complained for months of crippling back pain but refused treatment from Ukrainian medics - has agreed to accept treatment from a German doctor at a Ukrainian hospital, a doctor who saw her said.

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Monday he was sure the country's Constitutional Court would not next week block treaties establishing a permanent bailout fund and strong budgetary regulations in Europe. A negative ruling on September 12 by the court in Karlsruhe on whether the ESM fund can go ahead risks plunging the 17-nation single currency zone into turmoil and fuelling panic on bond markets by raising doubt over bailouts of debt-laden southern states.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union must not retreat behind national borders to pull out of its economic slump, said Guy Verhofstadt, a prominent supporter of a federal Europe who is seeking the presidency of the European Commission. In a call to counter the rise of populist parties that reject the power of Brussels, the former Belgian prime minister said only a stronger EU could end record unemployment and revive economic growth. "We are in a deep economic crisis," Verhofstadt said as he laid out his campaign at a news conference on Friday.